Good Bye, Good Friend: Rest In Power Lamont Navy

The closer you are to a person, the harder it is to write about them. This is a hard post to put up, as the feelings I have are still fresh. Some of you may have noticed that some of my status updates have been very emo lately. Well, it is because I lost a good friend. His name was Lamont Navy.

He succumbed to a rare cancer, after battling it for over a year. Despite a grim diagnosis, Lamont held in there, and was in good spirits on the occasions I visited him. To not be a “Buzz Killington” as he would sometimes say, I would like to tell all of you about the type of person he was.

Lamont was the funny cat. Man, he would always have a brilliant comeback in a war of words, and would have you laughing even if the joke was on you. This was not the person you wanted to get into a snapping contest with, because 9 times out of 10, you lost. Sarcastic comedy came easy to him. Like it was water.

He was a gamer, a wrestling fan, and a hip hop critic. I have decades of memories of Lamont, and there is not enough space here to share it all. From the early years in school, to our days of hopping the arcades in Harlem. The countless Saturday afternoons playing video games and talking about the latest rap records. Sharing magazines, CD’s and all that.

Death is hard enough to deal with, despite any age. However, when it takes a person who was so young, it is even tougher to cope. If we are honest with ourselves, we all know that life is not fair. Knowing it, and accepting it are two different things. It still does not sit well with me, what occurred nearly a week ago. All of the people I grew up with, we are all in our early 30’s. If we were all in our late 50’s/early 60’s, I believe I could accept it more. But this… nope. This cuts way too deep. I know I speak for many people when I say that.

For those of us who were part of Lamont’s life, and remember him, all we have are our memories. Yes, his life was short.. gone at the age of 34. Yet, he impacted many. He was a bright dude, and never took himself too seriously. I am going to miss him greatly.